Moving up to open for Sri Lanka changed his career but was a decision he should have taken two years earlier, says Tillakaratne Dilshan after retiring from international cricket.
Inventor of the famous "Dilscoop" ramp shot, Dilshan played the last of his 87 Tests in 2013 before quitting the longer format with 5492 runs and 39 wickets.
The 39-year-old signed off from the shorter formats following Friday's Twenty20 loss to Australia with over 10,000 runs and 22 centuries in 330 one-day internationals and 80 T20 matches.
He is one of six men to have scored a hundred in all three formats of the game.
"I think I should have taken the decision to move up to open earlier," Dilshan said.
"I made that decision in 2009 but I should have made that a couple of years before to (break) more records.
"I realised that I can do more for the side as an opener. From 2009 to 2016 I scored 21 hundreds in one-dayers. That was a position I really enjoyed.
"That change in position changed my career and I think I helped the side a lot as well."
Dilshan, who made his one-day debut against Zimbabwe in 1999, was also a wily off-spinner and one of the most agile Sri Lankan fielders even at 39.
He took more than 100 wickets in ODIs and made life difficult with the ball for his opponents even in his last match.
He gave away eight runs and claimed two wickets in two overs in his last spell.
"I'm really happy with what I've done for 17 years for my country and my team," he said.
